Zynga is reportedly in discussions to buy OMGPOP, the maker of the enormously successful Draw Something mobile game, according to TechCrunch.
The deal shows how fast things can change for a company’s fortunes when it has a big hit. OMGPOP has struggled to produce successful games over the years, but with the creative Draw Something, where players draw images on touchscreens in a Pictionary-style game, the company has had an enormous hit. The game is so big on mobile that it has taken the No. 1 spot from Zynga in daily active users on both mobile and social games.
OMGPOP’s top game now has 12. 2 million daily active users, compared to 8 million for Zynga’s Words With Friends game, according to AppData. OMGPOP is also showing up on the top-developer leaderboard, with 23.4 million monthly active users, compared to Zynga’s 246.4 million.
Zynga declined comment. On Friday, Dan Porter, chief executive of OMGPOP, went out of his way to minimize the competition with Zynga.
He said, “I’m not in competition with Zynga. Words With Friends is a great game and has stood the test of time. That’s the press angle. My angle is about what makes the game special. You can quote me on it.”
TechCrunch also mentioned Japan’s Gree and DeNA as possible bidders.
OMGPOP was founded in 2008, with an initial focus on socializing traditional arcade-style games on the web. As the traffic shifted to Facebook, so did OMGPOP. Now it has reoriented to create social game experiences on iOS and Android. The company has raised $17 million.